This line creates a file relative to the "working directory" of the JVM. the JVM you are running in must therefore have the working directory "C:\OAFramework\jdevbin\j2ee\home". if you are running within a Servlet container, you may be able to use http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/5/api/javax/servlet/ServletContext.html#getRealPath%28java.lang.String%29 to get the path to your servlet directory. otherwise, i don't know a way of getting that path from within the jvm.